


A Full Time Hero - Rafael Barba Ft Sonny Carisi

by Sherrykinss



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherrykinss/pseuds/Sherrykinss
Summary: Rafael is in a pissy mood when a case isn’t going in the direction he wanted. When the reader tries to be helpful, he is agitated and takes his stress out on her. Leaving them with unspoken words in the air.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Reader, Rafael Barba/You
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

“Good morning, sweetie. I have already made coffee for you. It’s on the table.” She greeted Rafael with a smile and a kiss on the lips. He barely offered a smile, but headed straight for the coffee.

“I’m almost done with the egg sandwich. So don’t leave yet.” She said, over her shoulder.

Rafael didn’t answer, his mind was too occupied with the proceeding of the case. He kept coming up with scenarios where he could screw up or be screwed over. With the pressure from his boss and the case being time sensitive, he couldn’t think of anything else. All he needed was as much caffeine as he could get.

“Did you hear what I said?” She asked.

Her back was facing him, so she didn’t catch the eye roll. She was too busy trying to get the sandwich ready so he could eat on the way. He was in a foul mood due to sleep deprivation, it wasn’t anything in the tone she spoke. In fact, she was trying to be helpful.

“Mm.” He managed to respond, when she asked again.

She packed the sandwich in a sandwich bag and hurried over. She knew he was pressed for time.

“Here you go.” She smiled and handed it over.

He nodded and held it in the other hand, while he chugged the cup of coffee, ignoring the hot liquid burning his throat.

“Hey Raf, before you go. I think your sink is clogged or something is up with it. I have a towel underneath the pipes just in case.” She mentioned.

When he didn’t respond, she continued.

“It’s leaking and I figured I would run it by you, since I’m staying over this weekend.” She explained.

He finished the cup of coffee and sighed, rather exasperatedly. He set the cup down and the clanking noise of the cup against the table alerted her to his mood. She should have known from the way his eyebags puffed and his eyes red from exhaustion. He must have not slept much last night.

“Should I call the plumber?” She asked.

If he wasn’t so stressed and agitated already, he would have heard the wariness in her voice. Though all he wanted was for her to stop asking questions. He didn’t need anymore distractions.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure you can figure it out.” He finally answered.

She bit the inside of her cheek from his less-than-disinterested attitude. Hurt by his tone, she stepped back and nodded.

“Right. See you later.” She said, and turn on her heel to head back to the kitchen.

He didn’t bother to answer because he was so occupied by the many emails flooding his inbox. Seeing that she had already left, he hurried out the door with his sandwich. He didn’t even notice the tension he left her with.

She rolled her eyes with a long sigh when she entered the kitchen. She didn’t appreciate his attitude so early in the morning, especially when she was trying to help. Moreover, she didn’t appreciate his agitation of her. She just didn’t want him to have to worry about his apartment malfunctioning while he’s at work. She figured that since she had the day off and she was staying with him for the weekend, that she would take care of it for him. That being said, it wasn’t her apartment, she didn’t want to make decisions for him. Since he wanted to act like she couldn’t take care of things on her own, she was going to try to fix his sink by herself.

She searched his house for a toolbox. There seemed to be no evidence of tools, much less a toolbox. She felt silly because she didn’t expect Rafael to own a toolbox. She was left perplexed. Without much knowledge of plumbing, she resorted to Googling for answers. Reading up on what she needed to do and the tools to help her, she felt confident enough to take on the task. The only thing was tools.

She didn’t want to seem like she couldn’t take care of things by herself. From the way Rafael was acting, she didn’t want him to continuously think that she always had to ask for help. Even if, she did end up needing help. She knew her friends were all at work. She grabbed her phone and went through the contact list on her phone. Her thumb swiped up, scrolling through the list to find a reliable contact she could call. She was nearing towards the end when Sonny’s name caught her eye. She hesitated at first, but she was fairly confident that Sonny would have a toolbox. After a moment of contemplation, she dialed his number.

“Y’ello!” Sonny answered the call.

“Hey Sonny! Sorry to bother you while you’re at work. I’m trying to fix Rafael’s sink, but he doesn’t have a toolbox. I think I need a wrench and maybe a hammer. Do you have one I can borrow?” She asked.

On the other end of the call, Sonny’s face scrunched up in confusion.

“Why are you trying to fix his sink?” He asked.

“He’s busy and it’s leaking. Something is funky with it. I just want to fix it before he comes back.” She explained.

Sonny chuckled in disbelief, “When is he never busy? Tell you what, I’ll stop by after work. Is that okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, that sounds fantastic! Thank you so much!” She gratefully said and hung up.

In the meantime, she did some chores and completed some errands. She went grocery shopping, then cleaned the house. Before she knew it, the whole day had flew by. She didn’t even realize it until Sonny rang the doorbell. She hurried to the door and opened it to reveal Sonny and his toolbox.

“Sonny! Thanks for coming over.” She stepped aside for him to enter.

“Not a problem. Let’s take a look at it.” He said.

“The kitchen is over here.” She said and led him to the kitchen.

He set his toolbox down before sitting down in front of the kitchen sink pipes. She lowered herself beside him and nervously observed as he opened his toolbox. He inspected the pipes, noticing the soaked spots on the towel underneath the pipes.

“Did you try to fix it?” He asked, checking the screws.

“Uh… I was kinda tinkering with it?” She admitted.

He chuckled, “Well, I think you loosened some of the screws, that’s why more water came out.” He explained. “Good effort though,” He applauded her attempt.

She cringed and flashed an embarrassed smile.

“Have you had dinner yet?” She asked, while he grabbed a wrench out of the box.

“Not yet.” He answered.

“Since you’re here. Stay and have dinner with me.” She suggested.

He glanced over from the sink, “You don’t have to make dinner. It’s a quick fix anyway.” He said.

She sighed, “It’s my way of thanking you and also because I don’t want to eat alone. So stay. I’m going to make teriyaki stir fry and noodles.” She insisted, hoping to entice him to stay.

“Alright, you got me. I can’t say no to noodles.” He grinned.

“Good! I’ll get started. Rafael won’t be back until late, so if you didn’t show up, I was going to have to eat alone again.” She said, rising from the floor.

Sonny chuckled, returning his attention to the sink.

“The DA is really up his butt about it. It’s been tough on us too. We’re stuck with no location of the suspect. All the trails ended up being cold. But once he tries to leave the city, we’ll be able to find him.” Sonny explained.

“I understand. I mean, I should be used to it by now.” She said.

Even though Sonny couldn’t see her as she was cutting the vegetables, he could hear a hint of sadness in her voice.

“He’s a good man. He works harder than most ADAs. He’s kinda like a real life hero.” Sonny said, hoping to lighten the mood.

“I know… A full time hero.” She answered.

Sonny finished tightening the screws and making sure the pipes weren’t leaking water anymore. Even though there was a small smile on her lips, he could sense that she was trying to make things less awkward. So he made it a goal to cheer her up, it’s the least he could do for a friend.

He helped her in the kitchen and told stories of his family, especially the kitchen mishaps he had. She laughed and shared stories of her own. Sonny would poke fun at her for chopping vegetables so slow. He showed her how he had perfecting his knife techniques and would slice up an onion before the sting made their eyes tear up.

With Sonny’s effort, she definitely forgot the tension between Rafael and her earlier that morning. Their dinner was good and she got to learn a couple of cooking tips from Sonny. He truly was a great friend. Since dinner was so good and they were having a great time. She invited him to stay for a movie before he left. He was reluctant at first, glancing at the clock. But she enticed him with popcorn loaded with butter and he couldn’t resist. Especially since she said she had never seen “The Princess Bride” before. They popped the popcorn, smothered it with butter and salt. Then they sat back and put the movie on and sat back and relaxed.

Rafael came back quite late. He was surprised to hear that she was still watching TV in the livingroom. Typically, she was in bed, watching Netflix on her tablet and playing on her phone. He turned the corner after hanging his jacket up. He thought it was odd when it sounded like another familiar voice was heard with her. He turned the corner and found Sonny sitting beside her. The only thing separating them was a bowl of popcorn. He cleared his throat when he approached them, spotting Sonny holding one of his beers from the fridge.

“Barba! There you are!” Sonny waved.

Rafael’s eyes glanced from Sonny to her. “What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Oh Sonny helped me with the sink, and I invited him to stay since he didn’t have plans.” She said.

“Why didn’t you ask me?” Rafael asked.

She scoffed quietly, but her eyebrow perk didn’t go unnoticed by Rafael.

“I wouldn’t want to seem like I couldn’t figure things out myself.” She responded.

She said with a smile, but Sonny detected a hint of tension by her tone. He suddenly felt awkward, like he got in the middle of something, but he couldn’t figure out what. Rafael felt like she was hinting to something he said earlier, but with all the stress, he couldn’t remember. All he knew, was that he felt like it had something to do with what he said.

“Um… it’s late. I should get home. I’ve got an early morning tomorrow.” Sonny got up from the couch.

“Okay, well it was fun. Thanks for staying and keeping me company!” She flashed Sonny a big smile.

“Yeah, any time.” He smiled back.

He set the beer down and nervously smiled as he walked by Rafael, “Have a good night, Counselor.” He said and grabbed his toolbox from the kitchen.

“Good night, Carisi.” Rafael politely replied.

She got up from the couch and walked by Rafael, so she could show Sonny out. Rafael was left standing there, wondering what he had said earlier and why he felt a pang of jealousy.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rafael making it up to reader.

Once Sonny had left, she returned to the living room. Rafael was still standing there, slowly loosening his tie. She snuck a glance of him as she walked by. His eyes were focused on a spot of the rug. He looked perplexed, like his mind was preoccupied with what to say. At least, that was the struggle she had.

She head over to the couch and made herself comfortable, despite the fog of awkwardness that made the air between them murky. The only noise that filled the silence was the movie playing on the tv. She took his silence as his way of standing his ground. Normally, she would apologize, just so they could clear the air. She was still upset with the tone he took with her this morning. She just didn’t feel like she could let this slide this time.

The silence between them was starting to irritate her more than making her squirm uncomfortably in her seat.

“You can use the bathroom first.” She said, breaking the silence, pulling him out of his trance.

“Oh… right.”

He took it as his cue to leave. He still couldn’t figure it out and it bothered him to leave before resolving it. The last thing he wanted was to go to bed without resolution.

“Actually, can we talk?” He asked as he walked back over.

She glanced over and nodded, slipping her hands between her thighs as he sat on the other end of the couch.

“Did I say something earlier that upset you?” He asked.

She sighed and glanced down. Either he didn’t feel like his tone from this morning was wrong, or maybe he didn’t remember.

“Yeah, you did.” She stated.

He felt sick at the statement. He was mad at himself for not remembering, but for also not realizing.

“I’m really sorry.” He apologized.

He moved closer and rested his hand on her knees.

“I know it’s not excuse. I was really exhausted and stressed. I couldn’t think of anything but the case. I really didn’t mean what I said.” He explained.

“Do you… even remember what you said?” She asked.

He bit his lip, there was no right answer. If he answered truthfully, she was going to be mad. If he lied, she would definitely know.

“Not exactly.” He admitted.

She rolled her eyes and groaned. There was no point for her to get mad at him for not remembering. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t thoroughly upset.

“You made me feel like I couldn’t do anything on my own. Is that how you feel? That I rely on you for everything?” She asked.

He gasped upon remembering what he said and shook his head, “No! Of course not!” He exclaimed.

He scooted even closer and wrapped his arms around, drawing her to his chest.

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I’ve been asked to make decisions all week from the detectives and then from the DA and I just wanted to not have to make any decisions when I got home.” He explained.

She nodded and snuggled closer, feeling a bit better about herself. She saw him as this successful and passionate attorney, fighting for justice. Sometimes she felt inferior to his accomplishments. It wasn’t something she had ever addressed, but it was something she definitely had to learn to conquer.

“I know you stay here more often than I do. I want you to feel like this is your apartment too. That means you get to make decisions regarding this apartment as well, without my permission.” He said.

She smiled softly and nodded, “Thank, honey.” She leaned up and kissed his chin.

“Are we okay now?” He asked, peering down at her.

She smiled warmly and nodded, “Yeah, go on and shower. I’ll meet you upstairs.

She was sleeping soundly, when a whole lot of ruckus from outside woke her up. First, her hand reached out to check if Rafael was still in bed with her. When she didn’t feel him beside her, she assumed the source of the noise was from Rafael. Attempting to muffle the noise, she pulled the covers over her head. In doing so, she got a faint whiff of bacon. Her stomach instantly responded to the delicious scent with a rumble. She groaned, surrendering to the hunger that prevented her from falling back asleep.

“So much for sleeping in.” She grumbled, her voice hoarse from the morning.

She tossed her covers aside and slid out of bed. Curious to reasoning behind the noise, she followed the noise and the scent trail of the delicious bacon. Her feet trudged all the way to the kitchen and found Rafael contently cooking at the stove. She rubbed her bleary eyes to get a clearer view of him. She lazily leaned against the doorframe with a silly smittened smile spread on her sleepy face.

This is what she imagined mornings could be like with Rafael for the rest of her life. The scrapping of the spatula against the pan. The oil sizzling around the edges of the sunny side eggs. Rafael quietly humming to classic songs from his childhood.

She watched from behind for a moment, but she wanted a better view. She walked further in the kitchen and slouched over the counter. The light coming from the window above the sink hit him at a good angle, showing off his handsome side profile. He was so focused on cooking, he didn’t even notice her.

“I wasn’t aware you knew how to cook.” She said, garnering his attention.

“You’re awake already! Did I wake you up? I wanted to surprise you with breakfast in bed.” He greeted her with a warm smile and leaned over to give her a kiss.

“Don’t worry about it. Since when do you cook?” She asked, propping her elbows up against the counter.

He laughed and attended to the eggs on the pan. “I’m a man of all talents.” He said, in which she chuckled in response.

She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him. The light from the window shone on him from the side of his profile. He looked so picturesque as he tossed the eggs cooking in the pan with a spatula. She walked over to him and lightly pressed her forehead against his back. Her arms carefully wrapped around his waist, crinkling the white t-shirt he had on. She felt him sink back against her, still continuing to cook.

She pressed kisses into his shirt. Though he loved her embrace, he felt her flinch from the oil that splattered onto her arm. He was cautious of the hot pan and stepped side, moving her with him. He unwrapped her arms and rubbed her arm to rid the burn. She smiled brightly, swooning when he smothered her arm with kisses.

“You okay?” He asked.

She nodded, “I’m all better now.” She cheekily grinned.

He chuckled and planted a kiss on her temple before returning to the stove. He didn’t want the eggs to burn. She walked around him to get a piece of the cooked bacon. When he saw her hand reaching over, he gently slapped her hand away.

“Hey, hey hey. We’re not children.” He said, swatting her hand away.

She groaned and pouted. “Oh come on, just one!” She whined.

“Nope. Go freshen up and I’ll be done by the time you come back.” He said.

She huffed when he blocked her and lightly hip bumped her aside. She rolled her eyes playfully and pinched his butt in revenge. He flinched away with a yelp and laughed. His hand gave her butt a couple pats to shoo her away.

“Go, I’m almost done.” He assured her.

“Fine…” She replied and shuffled away.

While she was freshening up for the day, Rafael tried to speed up the process. The bacon was done and already split between the two plates. He just finished the eggs. He added them to their respective plates. The only thing left was coffee. He brought the plates over to the dining table, before making coffee. Just like he had predicted, she came back just as he finished stirring milk and sugar into their mugs of coffee.

She was much more awake and the smell of coffee put her in a better mood.

“Mmm, everything smells and looks so good.” She praised him as she took a seat.

He brought the mugs over and set her mug in front of her before sitting down. “Bon appetit!”

She finally got her bacon. After taking a bite of the crispy goodness, a satisfied smile graced her lips.

“What do you want to do today?” He asked, after taking a sip of his coffee.

She shrugged, mirroring him and taking a sip of her coffee.

“It’s funny, we never have the day off together. Now that we do, we can’t come up with things to do.” She said.

He chuckled and nodded in agreement.

“Ah! I have an idea! Let’s go visit your mom! She’s always busy. I bet her fridge is emptier than yours. Let’s go grocery shopping. Fill up your mom’s fridge, maybe help her meal prep as well.” She suggested, perking her eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, let’s do that and fill our fridge as well.” He agreed.

He had a tender smile on his lips, eyes affectionately gazing at her as she ate. His heart swelled at the idea. She always was so considerate of others. Plus, his mother had been bugging him to visit her more often, not to mention to give her a call once in awhile. At least this gives him the opportunity to spend his day with his two favorite women.


End file.
